


Summer Loving

by Zantarak



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Fluff, Missing summer, Multi, No Beta We Die Like Glen, Romance, i dont know what I'm doing anymore, missing people, what even are tags?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:20:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27516757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zantarak/pseuds/Zantarak
Summary: Ingrid thought she was used to having a devilishly handsome boyfriend, but her work this Summer has made one thing very clear. She is absolutely terrible at hiding how she feels. Sylvain doesn't even seem to care if they get caught. Oh yes, this Summer was most definitely going to be exciting
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Ingrid Brandl Galatea, Felix Hugo Fraldarius & Sylvain Jose Gautier, Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Sylvain - Relationship, Update as I go - Relationship
Kudos: 8





	Summer Loving

**Author's Note:**

> Don't know yet how often I'll update, I'll try for once a week and we'll see how it goes from there. I'm partially writing this from inspiration from the other wonderful AU fics here, partially because I finished playthrough number 5 and I couldn't get it out of my head, and partially because I miss the Summer. This will be based on my real experience working as a Summer Camp Counsellor, so I'll try to explain how I go.

Ingrid liked her Summer job. She got to spend almost her entire Summer working with horses, her coworkers were good people, and the campers were mostly ok (with a couple exceptions). The only problem was the early morning shit shovelling. Every day they were up extra early to feed the horses and shovel the shit. Marianne had the best attitude about it, working silently but diligently. Leonie cursed the most, but she made up for it by shovelling the fastest. Ingrid was somewhere in the middle, she would swear, but she mostly just kept quiet as she worked. After making sure the horses were ok, it was usually time for breakfast. They would walk down to the mess hall and join the others. Her day usually got much better after that point.

It was always comforting; as they walked down the gravel road through the center of camp, they could hear the place slowly come to life. Campers would run by and wave at them; they would wave back. They would often spot Caspar and Raphael getting ready for groundskeeper duties. All in all, life as a Horseback instructor at a small Summer Camp was a pleasant experience in the morning.

To back it up a bit, Ingrid has been coming to this camp since she was nine. This place had practically raised her and gave her the closest friends she ever had. After coming here as a camper, she applied for a CIT position, crushed it that Summer, and then joined on at the barn. She's always preferred horses to people anyway.

People like Leonie and Marianne had similar stories. Although she hadn't been coming as long, Leonie definitely made an impact when she first arrived. Meanwhile, Marianne was quiet but well-loved by just about everyone. She did her job as barn head diligently, even if she made a bit of a mess and was a little clumsy.

When the trio made their way down to the mess hall, the usual early morning crew was there. Ashe, their resident archery head, was chatting with kids about their favourite books. Petra was chatting happily with some of their international campers in Spanish. As Leonie and Marianne joined them on the front porch, Ingrid peeled off to the counsellor's cabin, affectionally referred to as the cottage, claiming she had to use the bathroom. Inside was a familiar sight on the couch. Hilda Goneril, their arts and crafts expert, was passed out on the couch. The cottage had two bedrooms with a bunk bed in each. That allowed four non-cabin counsellors (aka floaters) to sleep there. It was also a convenient place for those on their day off to pass out because of the larger common area in the front. The two couches were comfortable enough for anyone not sober to use. The staff fridge was an excellent place to keep one's hangover cures (mostly high in electrolytes Gatorade).

Ingrid tried to keep quiet as she moved to the back porch, conveniently hidden from camper view, where she found him just as she thought she would. To get into the cottage, there were two doors. One was on the side closest to the mess hall, also known as the lodge. The other was a short ramp that led to the back to the porch. This staff only area came equipped with incredible luxuries such as a bench, some plastic chairs they stole from around the lake, an ashtray, and a clothesline.

"Really, Fe? A cigarette this early?" Ingrid snatched the cancer stick out of his hand and put it out on the railing.

"Fuck off, I'm hungover as shit right now. Let me kill myself in peace," Felix replied, but it came out as a grumble as he tried to massage his temples.

"If your hungover, that's your fault. What even happened last night?" Ingrid took a seat on the bench across from him.

"Weren't you there?"

Ingrid blushed, "I left after midnight."

Felix, "Right, should've guessed you two would be fucking. You get handsy when your drunk."

When he noticed Ingrid's embarrassed state, Felix snorted, "You've been dating since New Years; you're allowed to say your fucking Ingrid. I mean, unless your embarrassed by him, which is understandable. This is Sylvain we're talking about."

Ingrid reached over to grab an ear, "I am not embarrassed by him, understand?"

"Ow ow ow, Jesus woman, I get it. You love your boyfriend, now for the love of all that's good, stop ripping off my fucking ear," Felix was almost shouting.

That's when one of Ingrid's bosses, Byleth, showed up at the top of the ramp. The new camp director quirked a brow before speaking, "You two need to get better at keeping it down. Also, Felix, breakfast is about to start, get to the lodge. Ingrid, stay for a second."

Felix started to walk but then jogged after he heard the bell for breakfast. He looked over his shoulder and shrugged at Ingrid's blank expression. Byleth took a seat on the bench before looking up at Ingrid.

"You're not in trouble…yet anyway. Just a word of warning."

Oh, so that's what this was about.

"This is your first Summer together, and some of the returning campers are bound to notice a change. Please just be smart," Byleth smirked, "I'd rather not lose the only other couple at camp this Summer."

Ingrid was a little too shocked to respond. Byleth, smirking? Edelgard had a bigger impact than she realized.

Byleth spoke again, ignoring the lull in the conversation, "It's only been a week, so be careful. Just because we're short-staffed this Summer doesn't mean you two get leeway," now Byleth smiled, "anyway, how have the horses been?"

Ingrid snorted, "As dickish as usual. Thankfully, they seem to understand that they have to behave around with the campers. They usually try and buck us off when it's just us, though."

Byleth nodded and then stood up, "Sounds wonderful. I guess we should join breakfast, though, shouldn't we? Wouldn't want to make them jealous."

Ok, Ingrid was still new to joking with Byleth. She was very unsure if she should take that one seriously. Until she saw Edelgard staring at her like she was planning on putting Ingrid in charge of washing out the stalls with a toothbrush.

Ingrid hurried into the lodge, avoiding eye contact as usual, and looked for a cabin to sit with. Sylvain's was the regular choice but considering the conversation she just had…hey, let's see how Dorothea's doing!

Ingrid took a seat at the senior girl's table in the back. She entered into what seemed like a productive conversation.

"And that, ladies, is why I sew my own pockets into the inside of my clothing," said Dorothea as she buttered her toast, "any other questions?"

"Yeah, what fabric do you use?" Replied Ingrid as she sat down.

"Wonderful question Ingy. Listen up girls, the best fabric is the hair you ripped out of those who wronged you."

That got a laugh from the girls at the table. None of this was unexpected. This was just how Dorothea was; her cabin took it in stride, and took her, kind of, wise words to heart. All in all, she was well-loved.

"What about you, Ingrid, what's your opinion on pockets?" asked one of the girls, named Brittany. She was in the advanced riding class.

"I despise the fact that they aren't allowed on riding pants and believe that whoever designed riding pants was either an idiot or a man with no idea how riding worked."

"Why not both?" replied Dorothea. Again, peels of laughter rang out from the lodge. Not just from them, though. Everyone was laughing at their own jokes at their own tables. As usual, the loudest table was Sylvain's. What happened when you put a table full of fourteen to fifteen-year old's with well Sylvain? Mostly Chaos.

The boys played dumb table games between their laughter of Sylvain's ridiculous and (mostly) fictional stories from when he was a child. She must have been staring because Brittany called for her attention, "Hey Ingrid, what are you staring at?"

The rest of the table also took notice and saw Ingrid…staring where she shouldn't have. Oh God, on the exact same day that Byleth…fuck this is not good. Thank God though because-

"I think she's staring at Felix!" called at one girl, named Margaret.

That got the table snickering, some asking about her relationship with the bun-haired canoe instructor. Dorothea was hooting and hollering at the head of the table. The girls took this the wrong way, of course, affirming that she did, in fact, have a romantic relationship with her childhood best friend. This was not awkward, of course. No, it was perfectly normal. The only upside to this was that the suspect was Felix and not Sylvain. So, Ingrid went along with it by blushing (didn't have to fake that) and passing away comments on if she was interested in her childhood friend. She didn't have to do it long, thankfully, before Claude and Dimitri called for silence to give the morning announcements. After that was handled, breakfast was over, thank God, and it was time for morning activities to begin.

That meant the children were coming to the barn, starting with Ingrid's specialty with the intermediate riders. It was easy to forget about her slip up when she was too busy worrying about stupid grumpy horses bucking off the kids she was in charge of. Between lessons, general maintenance and barn upkeep, and cleaning horse shit from saddles, she almost didn't realize it was nearly time for lunch. She cleaned herself up, washing the grime from her face and fixing her hair.

She made her way down to the lodge with Leonie and Marianne, chatting about temperamental horses and even more temperamental campers. She peeled off from them when she saw Sylvain heading to the cottage. She joined him at the back porch, where he was rubbing his face while frowning.

She took a seat across from him, "Anything I can help you with?"

She was happy to see the frown twist up into a beautiful smile, "You help just by being here. Besides, it's just my cabin being a bunch of shit heads."

Ingrid snorted, "I wonder where they get that from?" She asked playfully.

Sylvain chuckled in reply, "Yeah, I deserve that one. For real, though, it's nothing. Jorgi's just a bit of a misogynistic ass, and it's rubbing off on the other guys. In other news, I have dinner time off tonight."

Ingrid stretched her feet out on his lap, "Oh, really? I can ask for the keys to Mercede's car?"

Sylvain pulled a set of keys out from his pants pocket, "Already way ahead of you. Felix is also off for dinner, and he's already down to join us."

Ingrid frowned, "Wouldn't he be third-wheeling?"

Sylvain smirked, "Which is why I asked Annette if she was interested in joining us as well."

Ingrid's mouth dropped in shock, "Sylvain, please don't tell me your playing matchmaker again?"

Sylvain replied, "Oh come on, it's not that big of- OW OW OW. Ing, please let go."

Ingrid had grabbed Sylvain's ear before scolding him, "Sylvain, if Felix finds out about this, how do you think he's going to react?" Before Sylvain could speak, even when he opened his mouth, Ingrid continued, "He's going to grumble and get prickly. Just leave it alone, please, for me?"

She made sure to bat her eyelashes a bit and pout her lips. She knew Sylvain would break, in 3, 2, 1-

"Fine, no matchmaker. But I've already invited both of them to dinner, ok? Please, I haven't hung out with Annette in ages."

That made Ingrid confused, "When did you become buddies, Annette?"

"We redheads stick together, through thick and thin. We even have a support group chat," replied Sylvain. He gave Ingrid his phone to check. There was a whole long list of messages. Before she could read them, though, the phone was snatched back out of her hand, "Sorry babe, its confidential stuff. Can't let you see something that you can report to someone else."

"Does this have to do with Dorothea?" Ingrid asked, putting together a particular member of the chat with a particular best friend drama counsellor.

"Why is he a bee, Ingrid? Do you know? Because I sure as shit don't, and I'd like to learn," Sylvain tucked his back into his pants before standing up, "Now, I've got to make sure my boys have set the table. I'll meet you at the barn at five-thirty, yeah?"

Ingrid felt a smile blossoming, "Yeah, sounds great. I'll see you then!" Oh God, she was too happy. Oh God, what was this guy doing to her?

It was hard for Ingrid to think for the rest of the day. She loved her job, but privacy wasn't easy, and this was the first time since before staff training that she would be having anything close to a date and private time with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend, God, over six months into dating, and she still felt giddy thinking about it. The fond smile he only gives to her, the way he looks at her like she's the most important thing in the room. The way his hands grip her hips- oh Jesus, fuck no, she needs to calm down. There are children around, Ingrid! Shame!

The last lesson comes much too slowly. Ingrid can feel her patience start to snap, and Marianne notices. Ingrid feels an incredible amount of shame as Marianne takes over the lesson, passing Ingrid her brush to take care of the horses. Marianne never has to make the other barn staff feel bad through shouting; Leonie and Ingrid will feel bad all on their own. Thankfully, she takes the time to treat the horses properly; Luin is always so stubborn about eating and mutters Marianne's apology when she passes. Marianne just smiles and tells her to enjoy her time in town. Ingrid just feels worse.

She starts feeling a lot better when she sees Sylvain. Standing there in a light blue, short-sleeved, button-down shirt, with a pair of form-fitting jeans and…

"Sylvain, why are you wearing Birkenstocks?"

"They're comfy, Ingrid! Come on, gotta let my toes breathe!"

As he swaggers over to her, Ingrid feels her heart stutter. When he pulls her close, his lips catching hers, she swears it's about to burst. Then the terror comes, and she jumps away from him.

"Sylvain, what are you doing! What if the campers see us?" Ingrid almost screams, looking around for the snickering faces of those delightful little shits.

"Ing, they're at the lodge, getting ready for dinner, chill. We're just waiting on Felix and Annette," Sylvain replies, resting his head on top of hers.

Ingrid decides to trust him and relaxes into his grip. They stand there for a minute, just taking in the other's presence. Then they hear a high-pitched voice.  
"Oh, my God! Are Sylvain and Ingrid dating?"

Ingrid almost leapt back, and in the act of doing so, Sylvain almost fell backwards. They both whipped their heads to the source of the voice and found Annette, wearing a pair of blue jeans and an orange t-shirt, walking up to them, holding an overstuffed bag of laundry, "Sorry, Mercie asked if I could bring her stuff in with mine, is that ok?"

Ingrid nods and moves to help her carry the bag to the car, "No problem, hey Sylvain, you mind lending a hand?"

"But you two beautiful ladies look like you have it handled," he replies, even while he moves to open the trunk. As everyone bands together to stuff Annette's oversized laundry bag into the car, they fail to notice Felix joining them in shorts and a navy-blue polo. He takes in the scene quietly, getting close to a glower but not quite a scowl.  
Annette's the first to notice with an eep that catches Sylvain and Ingrid's attention. Felix nods to them before claiming shotgun. The rest follow, and they're on their way to dinner.


End file.
